Three incumbents and two newcomers have filed statements of interest for the four seats coming up for election in 2026 on the Gilbert Town Council.
Incumbents Jim Torgeson, Chuck Bongiovanni and Vice Mayor Bobbi Buchli all have filed to run again. Each was elected for the first time in 2022.
The three often have been allied on council votes and in requesting items to be put on the agenda, particularly early in their terms.
The fourth incumbent, Yung Koprowski, has not filed and is said to be on the fence for running again.
Koprowski was appointed to council in 2020 to fill the seat held by Jordan Ray, who resigned to run for the Highland Justice Court judge position. She was then elected to her own term in 2022.
Koprowski is the second-longest serving council member behind only Mayor Scott Anderson. She received the most votes among candidates in the 2022 election.
The two newcomers are Christopher Kozak and Michael Flores.
Kozak, 64, is a transportation executive and a graduate of West Point.
Flores, 74, is a retired government executive who now substitute teaches.
A statement of interest is a preliminary step toward running for council that allows a person to begin circulating nominating petitions.
Persons can then submit their petitions between March 7 and April 6 and if found to have enough valid signatures, they are then placed on the ballot for the primary next August.
Please submit comments at yourvalley.net/letters or email them to AzOpinions@iniusua.org. We are committed to publishing a wide variety of reader opinions, as long as they meet our Civility Guidelines. Tom Blodgett can be reached by email at tblodgett@iniusa.org or follow him @sp_blodgett on X.
Meet Tom Tom Blodgett joined Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, in 2022, when the company acquired Community Impact Newspaper's Phoenix-area properties. Raised in Arizona, he has spent more than 35 years in journalism in the state.
Community: He has served as an instructional professional in the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication since 2005, and is editorial adviser to The State Press, the university's independent student media outlet. He also is director of operations for an 18U girls fastpitch softball team from Gilbert.
Education: Arizona State University with a BS in Journalism.
Random Fact: He lived in Belgium during his freshman year of high school.
Hobbies: Tweeting enthusiastically about ASU softball (season-ticket holder) and grumpily about other local sports (pessimistic fan).
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